Chapter Text
On the edge of a sandy cliff sits a wooden cabin that has weathered many storms and owners over the years. The place is small and cozy with a scenic view that is truly breathtaking. None of that is what you were truly interested in when picking your new home, however. No, the most important aspect of this seaside home is the rickety wooden path down to the rocky alcove hidden within the base of the cliff. The slick, grimy handrail and steep slope that marks the path down is enough of a hazard to deter any curious tourists that might stumble upon your little sanctuary.
Small tidal pools covered in shells and filled with playful crustaceans greet you upon descending into the hidden cove. The sand sparkles with small pieces of colored sea glass that has been smoothed over by the waves. Your feet sink into the wet sand with each step you take towards the outcropping of rocks that act as a barrier between the sea and the cove. It’s the perfect spot to hide your bag that holds your valuables and the clothes for after your swim.
The sea welcomes your human form into its cold embrace with ease, allowing your body to shift into your more monstrous form. Iridescent scales cover most of your skin to create a hard shell and fins sprout along your spine. Sharp claws and fangs grow where short and dull human nails and teeth had been only moments ago. Legs shift to a tail that leaves much to be desired unfortunately, the scales dull and scratched with a fin that is torn and pale from an injury long ago.
The worst part of the transformation is the shift from breathing through your lungs to using gills. This form can use both methods of breathing, of course, but only your gills work within the salty sea. It takes a few minutes of painful gasping and acclimating before your gills finally start to pump oxygen like they’re supposed to. Once you no longer feel like you’re drowning with lungs full of razor blades you push yourself off from the rocks and sink fully into the chilly water.
The coral reef is a beautiful and familiar sight that is only a little difficult to maneuver around with your size. The rough texture of the coral scrapes against your scales painfully in the tighter spots but it’s a necessary pain to get to the more spacious area you’re heading towards. Fish scatter in a multicolored explosion when you finally manage to free your large body from the cramped reef.
You’ve always preferred the dunes and trenches found deeper under the surface over the tropical shallows anyway.
With each powerful stroke of your tail you push further and deeper down until the light can no longer guide you. A soft glow emanates from the marks scattered across your entire body from tail to neck. The marks on your tail do not glow nearly as bright as the rest of your body does, but that’s fine. You have your own methods of luring prey and your skills leave much to be desired for any potential mate.
Not that the other sea creatures tend to come near you anyway. The stench of humanity stubbornly clings to your body since you spend more time above water than below. It doesn’t help that your appearance is considered too dangerous to be approachable by the merfolk and not powerful enough to earn any respect from the sirens, leaving you undesired by most intelligent creatures that roam the seas. Only other loners like yourself are willing to be friendly to you and that’s perfectly fine. The ocean has never really felt like home to you anyway, so why bother trying to fit in with anyone down here?
The only reason why you come down here at all is because you’d go insane if you didn’t. Shortly after your twentieth birthday an intense urge to go to the ocean had driven you to move all the way from your city apartment down to this small beach town just so you’d have relatively easy access to the sea. It would have been perfect if not for the fact that there is a pod of mer that lives within the reefs along the cliffs.
They had not taken kindly to your sudden arrival. Your first dip into the reef had unfortunately been during one of their hunts and your tail had been mistaken for a siren so they had attacked you with sharp spears and ear piercing shrieks that left you stunned and bloody. Thankfully they had stopped their assault after realizing that not only were you not trying to eat them, you were actually terrified of them and had broken some coral as well as torn up chunks of seagrass with your claws from the rocks in your desperate attempt to escape.
Your ability to turn is still affected by the incident to this day since they had managed to rip off part of your back fin with a well aimed spear.
Nowadays, the pod leaves you alone for the most part as long as you do not linger within their reef for too long. It’s a fair rule that you’re more than willing to abide by in order to avoid further harm to your damaged body and you only ever enter the reef to get to the open sea anyway.
The sirens are much easier to avoid since only roaming species frequent the areas you like to hang out in. They tend to leave you alone in favor of hunting easier prey like seals and fish. There have been a few tense encounters with passing sirens over the two years you’ve lived here, though it never escalated to full on fights. A simple offer to split the next hunt’s spoils with the angry siren was usually enough to settle whatever issue they had with you. If it wasn’t then you’d simply use your claws and teeth to the best of your ability.
Speaking of hunts, it’s about time you started looking for dinner.
The time between your visits to this trench you have claimed as your second home was unpredictable enough that the nearby sea life never quite got used to your routine. Your claws make swift work of the unlucky fish that attempt to dart past you and become dinner for the night. A weary ache settles into your tail now that you aren’t having to fight the ocean currents and can settle into the sand pit that makes up your nest. It would take far too much energy than you’re willing to spend to get back to your bed above water so you decide to spend the night here then travel back in the morning once you’re rested.
The lack of sunlight and alarm clocks in your den meant that you had nothing but your internal clock to wake yourself up with so you’d accidentally slept deep into the morning. The swim to the trench had taken a lot out of you, and combined with your stubbornness to remain on land for a week straight, you had slept in way longer than you would have liked. By the time you finally wake up, catch breakfast, and start to make your way back to the cliffs the surface is crowded with fishing boats and their stupidly large nets that drag across the ocean floor. The schools of fish are not nearly as good at dodging the sweeping nets as you are, their floppy bodies unable to slip through the holes in the nets or find their way out once they’re caught.
It’s while you’re taking the opportunity to snatch a quick snack that the panicked shrieking of a siren reaches your ear fins. It doesn’t take long for you to swim towards the source of the cries and figure out what had happened. A group of rich idiots had managed to snag a siren within their net and had used a hoist to haul the unfortunate creature onto the deck of their very expensive boat. Catching sirens and merfolk is strictly prohibited not only in this area but in most waters across the world. The idiots either clearly don’t care for the legality of their actions or simply believe the rules do not apply to them. Either way, they’re treating that siren like a play toy instead of the extremely dangerous predator that they are.
“What kind of siren is this? I’ve never seen one with ruffles like this before!” The man’s hand reaches down to tug on the frills around the siren’s neck. He clearly does not seem to care that the creature he’s poking could very easily bite his arm off in a single chomp since he continues prodding and taunting the wriggling siren.
“I dunno, I’ve never seen one this close before. Do you think it’d fit in my pool? I’ve always wanted one of these as a pet.” A pet? In what world is a siren a good pet for a human?! What happened to just having a puppy or something?? The siren seems to be wondering the same thing, their thrashing growing more intense and the panicked cries rising in volume. The call is likely meant for their pod but they’re nowhere in sight. Guess I’ll have to do this myself, then. There’s no way I’m gonna let some rich assholes try and keep a siren as a trophy.
The men pause their casual conversation and peer over the edge of the boat to investigate after only a few seconds of singing. Your voice is a little rusty and you can only imagine what the trapped siren must be thinking upon hearing it. The humans are enthralled enough to allow you to lunge forward and drag two of them over the edge and into the sea. The boat creaks in protest when you tug yourself onto its deck and slither to where the quite large siren is trapped. The net looks like the standard sweep net but with fish and extra weights attached to it. They were trying to catch a siren on purpose.
Your claws work through the netting with urgency to free the siren watching you with wide yellow eyes. Once he’s free, you turn to the hoist and smash it with your tail. The damage is severe enough that they will certainly not be attempting to catch another siren for a while. You leap back into the water right as the humans climb back onto the boat dripping wet and crying in terror. A bubbly giggle escapes your mouth at the amusing sight though you don’t bother sticking around to further torment them. The approaching coast guard is likely already planning on giving them an earful, so you simply turn tail and continue swimming towards the reefs while dodging the nets.
The calls and song of sirens in the distance are oddly soothing as you swim away from them. You weren’t able to hear enough of the trapped siren’s voice to be able to discern if his call is among them, but you choose to believe it is anyway. I wish I had a pod I could call for when in trouble. A sad feeling sinks into your chest at the thought and stubbornly sticks to you even after you’ve hauled yourself back onto the rocks at the cove and dried off. Turning back into a human is a much more difficult ordeal than shifting to a merm is. The longer you spend in the ocean the less your body seems to want to work with you to get back on land.
Eventually you manage to get back onto your feet and sling your bag over your shoulder, the weight feeling heavier than it did before your night in the sea now that the water is no longer helping support your weight. You make quick work of the walk up the cliff in your haste to return to your cozy bed with a mattress, proper blankets and a perfect view of your tv. The ocean is nice and all, but you can’t exactly watch your favorite shows from the sandy trench deep below the sea.
“State your purpose, intruder!”
Damnit. A heavy sigh bubbles from your lips as you carefully turn to face the angry mer currently pointing a sharp spear at your face.
“I’m just passing through. I’m the one that lives on the cliff, remember?” Your dry reminder is thankfully enough to get the mer hunter off your tail with a flippant warning to not break any coral this time. They act like I mean to damage the reefs. It’s not my fault my tail is too big to squeeze through the tight gaps the merfolk can!
The reef damages you more than you damage it today anyway, a few dead scales peeling away from your tail during a particularly tight squeeze. It doesn’t hurt too much at least as they needed to come off anyway but it’s still annoying. The boats aren’t out today so you don’t have to be nearly as careful as you did yesterday. The coastguard likely shut the area down after the incident yesterday morning. They’ll likely keep it closed until they’re certain that the siren pod has moved on and won’t decide to enact revenge on passing boats. It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened; the wrecks you pass by on the ocean floor are nearly all from siren attacks, after all.
The trench that hides your den is oddly empty when you enter it. There’s normally at least a jellyfish or two floating around or a few fish swimming around the small caves nearby, yet there’s seemingly nothing here except you. You’d be more concerned about it if it weren’t for the fact that anything big enough to eat you would have to pass by multiple caves before finding your nest, giving you plenty of time to hear them and hide before being found.
That sense of safety fades a little when you find the sand in your nest refilled and freshly fluffed up. Someone’s been here, and by the size of the prepared bedding, they aren’t tiny. It does look awfully comfy, though…
Screw it. This is your nest! If someone has a problem with it, they’ll have to deal with it. Your tail and back fin ache and you’re exhausted from the long swim, you deserve a nice cozy space to sleep! It doesn’t take long for you to pass out with your head resting on a scar free part of your tail. Your eyes drift closed and you settle into a deep, dreamless sleep that leaves you blissfully unaware of the affectionate visitor that invades your nest.